Biden proposed UK Tech Tax could skyrocket console and hardware prices


United States President Joe Biden has warned the United Kingdom that there could be a huge Tech Tax on UK electronics.

Reported by the BBC, the Biden Administration is proposing the rule to fight back against plans for Britain to tax American companies.

What is the Tech Tax?

The proposed Tech Tax goes both ways. With Britain seemingly deciding on whether or not to increase the tax on American tech products, America is set to counter. A spokesperson for the UK government explained that they want to “make sure tech firms pay their fair share of tax" when imported to the UK.

The UK government believes that they would gain £325 million annually from increased taxation of American tech products. Alongside the recent Digital Services tax, the UK seems poised to benefit heavily from American companies.

What impact will this have?

The Biden Administration is warning of a 25% tariff increase on UK exports. In the list of proposed items planned to be challenged, games consoles, ceramics, furniture and more are all noted.

Of course, that's just the start. With games consoles as a base, other hardware could also see huge price increases thanks to the taxation. With hardware already expensive – and set to increase higher due to global chip shortages – there's a chance this could heavily alter the availability of UK tech. Other types of games hardware, such as coin- based devices, are planned to be taxed.

Read More: NFTs Explained– What are non-fungible tokens?

For more articles like this, take a look at our News, Nintendo, PlayStation, Tech, and Xbox pages.